


Fading Light

by Aaron_The_8th_Demon



Series: God Damn Apocalypse [9]
Category: Van Helsing (TV 2016)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Insomnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 09:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16014656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaron_The_8th_Demon/pseuds/Aaron_The_8th_Demon
Summary: Recently coming back from the dead doesn't mean Axel can't still stand watch overnight.





	Fading Light

 

All four of them try to argue with Axel when he volunteers to take watch, but he ignores their protests. He’s a chronic insomniac and (not that he’ll admit to this) he needs some space to process everything that’s happened to him. They’ve eaten a can of red beans each, and then passed around a fruit cocktail for dessert, so at least dinner was… filling. He almost misses the MREs they hadn’t had time to heat up out in the field while he was stationed in Afghanistan, because at least those had a little variety. Even having spent time as a vampire, and subsequently getting starved, Axel’s sick of how most food post-apocalypse is fucking canned beans.

Walking a circuit, as he passes by Wanda he hears Doc and Julius trying without much success to acquaint themselves with Scarlett. A few paces forward and Vanessa appears on his right. She asks again why he thinks he needs to stay up even having just come back from the dead.

Well, he’s going to be up anyway. He might as well do something helpful, right? It’s his MO. They’re walking, so he figures he can tell her the truth if he’s quiet because the others won’t hear. He needs to think about his life, make an assessment, and basically make sure he’s still combat-effective. If that means walking in circles around the jacked-up ambulance when he’s not sitting in a lawn chair with an assault rifle in his lap all night, then so be it.

At least Vanessa waits until they’re a little further away before she stops Axel with a hand on his chest. She knows that physically, he’s on the up-and-up, but how’s he feeling mentally? And she wants him to be honest.

Concerned. Axel’s concerned, because until a few hours ago he was a bloodsucking nightmare with no conscience and could barely keep a grip on himself. He needs to make sure that there aren’t any traces left of that ruthless, destructive monster left in his psyche. Because that’s not who he is. He’s efficient and goal-oriented and stubborn as fuck, but he’s not an animal and he won’t let himself be one, even a little.

It takes him by surprise when Vanessa tells him she has the same fears about herself. Because recently she’s discovered that by drinking the blood of others (in small quantities) it sometimes gives her a bit of a power boost. Dmitry even commented on that before they’d started brawling down in The Farm, and she’s worried that he might be right… she’s behaving like them, she’s a little too much like them.

Axel can tell that admitting this takes something out of her, and despite everything that’s happened today he’s still floored that she’s sharing it with him. She’s strong and capable, and he tells her so. He also insists that she’s nothing like Dmitry. Dmitry is, very literally, a bloodthirsty monster who wants to fully engulf the world with his brand of evil. Vanessa’s just doing what it takes to weaken him wherever she can.

In return, Vanessa assures him that there’s no trace of Axel-the-vampire still buried in there. Being a vampire was something that was done to him by circumstance, and has nothing to do with who he is as a person. Just look at Julius if he needs further proof - a vicious warlord before, now a man with one of the biggest hearts she’s seen in a long time who loves kids and tells stories about his days as a boxer. Night and day.

They’re walking again, because Axel needs to make sure nothing is closing on their position. He tells Vanessa that he’s got this and she can go rest - the ordeal hadn’t been easy on her either, after all, and if she says she’s not fucking drained by everything then she’s lying because he can see the bags under her eyes. If anything tries to get close, he’ll make sure she’s the first to know, because as he’s gunning it down he’ll yell out her name before anyone else’s.

Axel looks over to make sure she’s not about to argue with him that he needs to sleep, too. They can barely see details on each other’s faces in the fading light… but that doesn’t mean much when the next second they’re kissing.

He lets go of his M4 with one hand so that it won’t be sandwiched between their bellies, pulling Vanessa closer with his free arm. Hers are wrapped around his shoulders. The last time she kissed him, it was when he was dead. Axel likes this a hell of a lot better.

It seems so long but also ends too quickly, with their foreheads pressed together and breathing each other’s air. He knows she’s about to say something, but beats her to it, telling her that he’ll be really disappointed if she apologizes because he meant it and he’s not sorry. Vanessa just answers, in a very irritated tone, that no, she wasn’t going to say that. Just that if he decides to stop being a stubborn jackass and realizes he actually needs sleep like everyone else, he knows where to find her and she’ll take over watch for him.

Axel grins to himself as she goes back to Wanda, picking up his little patrol circuit and resituating his assault rifle in his arms. Because that felt a lot like she meant it, too.

**Author's Note:**

> This is as much as I feel okay writing at the moment, even though (as previously stated) I ship these two like crazy.
> 
> I really hope the show doesn't make Axel/Scarlet keep being a thing. I rationalized that as they were both bored and hadn't been laid in awhile.
> 
> ADDENDUM. Now that season 3 has arrived, we now know that Axel/Scarlet is going to keep being a thing. I'm disappointed but not surprised.
> 
> Please leave kudos/comments.
> 
> If you enjoyed this work, please feel free to check out my original WIP, [Nucleus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10027367).


End file.
